So you thought (or took Bush & Co. for their word) that the Afghanistan and Iraq wars were for the eradication of Al-Qaeda. Wrong! Many pundits (realists I may add) have suggested the Middle Eastern adventure was to reshape that portion of the world into a more American/Israeli (or do I repeat myself?) friendly region.
According to a recent Newsweek report, troop levels in the Middle East are substantially higher than what has been reported by the Bush administration. This can mean only one thing: The next target, regardless of all of the rhetoric indicating otherwise, is most certainly Iran — which is currently surrounded U.S. Military forces. But Syria and Lebanon should be squirming as well as confrontation looms on the horizon. Below are just a few statistics of troop levels in the region.
The administration has reported that after the 21,500 surge (or according to Condoleeza Rice, “augmentation”) troop levels will be at 173,500. In “Deployments: The Real Numbers,” Rod Nordland reports, “Last August, for instance, the Congressional Research Service, quoting the Department of Defense’s Contingency Tracking System, put the total deployment at 260,000, while the number actually in Iraq was at 140,000 to 160,000.”
Essentially, there are an extra 100,000 troops stationed in and around Iraq that aren’t being reported. Is it really that hard to figure out why?
Go here to read the full Newsweek article.
Does that figure include the alarmingly high number of mercenary forces employed by the US?
No, that number does not include Blackwater security forces that I know of. Now that’s an expensive endeavor at $100,000 per mercenary that U.S. taxpayers are spending!